DiversityNursing Bloghttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/RSS feeds for DiversityNursing.com60http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125941/Social-Media-in-the-Workplace-and-Interviews#Comments0Social Media in the Workplace and Interviewshttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125941/Social-Media-in-the-Workplace-and-Interviews<p>The news that some employers have asked for direct access to the Facebook accounts -- including user names and passwords -- of people applying for jobs at their firms has set off a firestorm of controversy.</p>
<p>The reports have raised questions about whether the practice is illegal and if such a policy could expose those employers to potential discrimination lawsuits. The dust-up has even triggered calls by some in Congress for a federal investigation into the practice.</p>
<p>But those recent events only highlight a new reality: The identity that individuals create in the world of social media is quickly becoming an important factor in hiring decisions and in people's broader professional lives.</p>
<p>"The questions around employer access to social network log-ins reflect a broader debate in society about a host of digital privacy issues," says Andrea Matwyshyn, a Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics. "This is a new concern -- the degree to which employers can gain access to all role identities through one virtual space. There is no parallel to that in the real world."</p>
<p>While the reaction to the practice has been swift and intense, it's hard to predict if it will become a lasting trend.</p>
<p>But, Matwyshyn says, she began hearing about employers requesting access to the Facebook accounts of potential hires as far back as 2008. To date, however, she says, there is no good data on how widespread the practice has become.</p>
<p>The fact that it exists at all is not entirely unexpected: According to Matwyshyn, a number of studies show that most employers look at candidates' online profiles when making hiring decisions, noting a 2011 survey by social-media monitoring service Reppler that found that 91 percent of recruiters report using social-networking sites to evaluate job applicants.</p>
<p>But checking out a publicly available profile on Facebook -- or even asking a job candidate to "friend" someone in human resources at a company where they are applying for a position -- is worlds apart from gaining unfettered access to someone's account through a password.</p>
<p>"If you can take Facebook passwords, what about Gmail passwords?" asks Stuart Soffer, a non-residential fellow at The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School and managing director of IPriori, an intellectual-property consulting firm.</p>
<p>If left unchecked, Soffer says, the practice could expand beyond human resource departments evaluating potential employees.</p>
<p>"What about allowing Facebook access to insurers so they can see what you are saying about your health?" he says. "They could use it as a basis for judging the risk of insuring you."</p>
<p>The request for access to log-in information also raises some serious legal questions.</p>
<p>Clearly concerned about the legal and business implications of privacy breaches, Facebook has come out against the practice, stating that sharing or soliciting a Facebook password is a violation of the company's statement of rights and responsibilities.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/Portals/100318/images/twitter logo.jpg" border="0" alt="twitter logo" /></p>
<p>"We don't think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don't think it's the right thing to do," Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan says. "But it also may cause problems for the employers that they are not anticipating."</p>
<p>Matwyshyn says employers could be essentially asking job candidates to violate their contract with Facebook if they ask for passwords, creating "an untenable conflict between contract law and employers' perceptions of their own interest in vetting candidates."</p>
<p>In addition, if a Facebook account includes information on an applicant's race or age, for example, that could potentially expose the employer to claims of discriminatory hiring practices. According to Matwyshyn, it is legally hazy whether accessing someone's Facebook account where that information is available is akin to asking it in the interview.</p>
<p>"Arguments can be made that this is a back-door method to gaining information that the prospective employer wouldn't otherwise have access to," she says.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the issue is getting the attention of Congress. Senate Democrats Charles Schumer and Richard Blumenthal, from New York and Connecticut respectively, have asked the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to look into the practice.</p>
<p>But even if it is eventually prohibited or otherwise curbed through legal or legislative channels, Wharton management professor Nancy Rothbard predicts that the use of social media in hiring decisions will continue to be a flashpoint in the years ahead.</p>
<p>"The core of the problem is the blending of personal and professional lives," Rothbard says. "We are still in the infancy of trying to understand how to deal with all this."</p>
<p><b>Opening the Window -- and Closing a Door?</b></p>
<p>Just how far employers can legally go to check out job candidates online may not be clear -- but why they are looking for new methods of evaluating applicants is easy to understand, says Wharton management professor Adam Grant.</p>
<p>Research, he says, has shown that the typical job interview is a poor tool for predicting which candidates will succeed. If that does not work, companies need to find something that does.</p>
<p>"Applicants are very motivated to put their best foot forward in an interview," Grant says. "It is very difficult to spot the people who will represent an organization well. But on Facebook, you can see the applicant making day-to-day decisions -- it is a window into how an individual is likely to act."</p>
<p>In fact, recent research has provided evidence that online profiles can be very revealing about specific personality traits.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/Portals/100318/images/facebook.jpg" border="0" alt="facebook" /></p>
<p>A paper published recently in the&nbsp;<em>Journal of Applied Social Psychology</em>&nbsp;entitled, "Social Networking Websites, Personality Ratings, and the Organizational Context: More Than Meets the Eye," studied 518 undergraduate students and their Facebook profiles.</p>
<p>The researchers found that the Facebook profiles were a good predictor of the so-called "big five personality traits:" conscientiousness, agreeableness, extroversion, emotional stability and openness. And for a subset of the group where the researchers were able to contact supervisors at companies that had hired those students, there was a correlation between scores on two personality traits -- emotional stability and agreeableness -- and job performance. (See<em>HREOnline</em><sup>TM</sup>&nbsp;story&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=533346062"><b>here</b></a>.)</p>
<p>"There is strong evidence that social networking is a valid way of assessing someone's personality," says Donald Kluemper, a professor of management at the Northern Illinois University College of Business and a co-author of the study.</p>
<p>But he says that does not mean there is evidence that an unstructured perusal of a Facebook account will result in better hiring decisions.</p>
<p>"Until a method is validated in a number of ways, including a study of adverse impacts and the legal issues, I wouldn't recommend companies rely on social-networking profiles," Kluemper says.</p>
<p>Now, the use of social-media information is far from fine-tuned, with recruiters typically checking out social media to get a general sense of the person applying for a job or to hunt for any red flags. But it is possible the use of that information could become more sophisticated.</p>
<p>"People are mining that data right now for other purposes, including targeting ads to the right people," says Shawndra Hill, a Wharton operations and information management professor. "It is not out of the realm of possibility to focus that on other outcomes, like how good a match someone is for a job or whether there is a high likelihood they might do something illegal."</p>
<p>While the value of that data may be apparent, it remains to be seen how social media should ultimately fit into some aspects of professional life.</p>
<p>Take the less-controversial practice of managers' friending their colleagues through Facebook. Rothbard says this practice creates numerous potential headaches. Two years ago, she and some colleagues did a series of interviews with 20 people at a variety of levels and in a number of different industries, and found that people were often unnerved friending either bosses or subordinates.</p>
<p>"People felt very uncomfortable with crossing the private and professional boundary when it came to the hierarchy [within an organization]," Rothbard says. "They talked about friending their bosses with similar discomfort and language as they did when they spoke about friending their moms."</p>
<p>Interestingly, Rothbard adds, the rules for social networking in the workplace may differ based on gender.</p>
<p>She led a study of 400 students in which participants were shown Facebook profiles, told that the person was either a boss, a peer or a subordinate, and then asked to rate the individuals based on how likely they were to accept that person's friend request.</p>
<p>The findings: Female bosses with bare-bones profiles were less likely to be accepted than those who revealed more personal information, while the opposite pattern held for male bosses.</p>
<p>"Women who have limited profiles are more likely to be shunned than the women who have a more active presence," Rothbard says. "People see them as cold. But male bosses who reveal less information are more likely to be accepted than those who reveal a lot of information."</p>
<p>The increased scrutiny of people's virtual lives may change the way individuals operate in the social-networking realm.</p>
<p>According to Rothbard, there are essentially four ways of dealing with privacy issues. There are those who control their list of friends carefully, rejecting friend requests from people with whom they don't want to share personal information. Then, there are those who accept virtually all requests, but are very careful about what they post, limiting that content to very safe, less revealing information.</p>
<p>There is also a hybrid approach in which people use privacy settings to share some information with close friends and less-sensitive material with others. And, finally, there is the "let it all hang out" crowd -- those who are comfortable sharing all their information with a large group of close (and not so close) friends.</p>
<p>Grant predicts more people will opt for the more-controlled, filtered approach as they realize their social-media profiles are being scrutinized by potential employers.</p>
<p>"As employers gain this information, so do candidates," Grant points out. "So candidates may use Facebook more carefully and remove the cues that are so valuable [to employers]."</p>
<p>Soffer agrees people will become much more careful about their social-media personas.</p>
<p>"There are ways around this," Soffer says of the unwanted exposure of social-media behavior. "One thing that could happen is people will start having two Facebook accounts." One will be for close friends; the other, a more sanitized version for employers.</p>
<p>But there is always the potential that something posted for viewing by a small group of close friends on Facebook could get out into larger circulation. And for that reason, some argue, the risks of being active in the social-media space outweigh the benefits.</p>
<p>"If you are a CEO, or aspire to be a CEO or director of a public company, I think it makes sense to refrain from social networking," says Dennis Carey, vice chairman at Korn/Ferry International. "There are other ways to communicate with employees and the outside world through properly controlled channels. Some of the messages that are conveyed can be misconstrued or taken out of context by a third party."</p>
<p>The fear of a photo or comment made long ago coming back to haunt you is hardly unfounded. Because sites such as Facebook have been around less than a decade, it is not certain how long someone's social-networking history will remain accessible.</p>
<p>"It is unclear how long the information persists," Hill says. "Firms have different privacy policies, and often privacy policies change over time. While there are policies that allow for deleting data you no longer want on the site, it is hard to guarantee that this information won't live on a database somewhere."</p>
<p>The controversy worries some fans of the social-media revolution.</p>
<p>"I worry that there is already a sense right now that our participation online may come back to haunt us," says Chris Ridder, co-founder of the law firm Ridder, Costa &amp; Johnstone and a non-residential fellow at The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School.</p>
<p>"It inhibits our ability to express ourselves," he says. "If we can only express public relations-like statements, it takes away a good bit of the utility of the Internet. I think it would be a shame if we were to lose the playful aspect of this new technology."</p>
<p>_____________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>How would you feel if someone asked for your account information to Facebook or Twitter in an interview? What if your boss did it? Do you think this is a privacy violation? Should there be legislation on this? Let us know in the comments; we want to hear from you!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125941/Social-Media-in-the-Workplace-and-Interviews&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariFri, 11 May 2012 14:46:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:125941http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125937/Nursing-Popular-with-Older-Students#Comments0Nursing Popular with Older Studentshttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125937/Nursing-Popular-with-Older-Students<p>Nurses are as diverse as the patients they treat.</p>
<p>But that diversity will become grayer for the next few years as more middle-age people are going into nursing as a second career.</p>
<p><img src="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/Portals/100318/images/student nurses get older-resized-600.jpg" border="0" alt="student nurses get older resized 600" /><br />That trend can be seen in the class that will graduate May 18 from Heartland Community College's two-year nursing program in Normal. Students graduate with an associate's degree in nursing and then may take the registered nurse licensing exam.</p>
<p>Non-traditional students &mdash; those who don't begin college right after high school &mdash; are the norm in Heartland's nursing program. But, in this class, none of the 40 students is a traditional student.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I was pretty surprised when I started,&rdquo; said second-year nursing student John Cook, 47, of Normal. &ldquo;There was virtually no one right out of high school. I remember thinking that I'd be the oldest one in there by far and that's not the case.</p>
<p>&ldquo;It's a huge cross-section of people with bachelor's degrees in other fields, including a lot of moms.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Students begin clinical rotations at area hospitals and long-term care facilities during their first semester, said professor of nursing Barb McLaughlin-Olson. For every hour that they are in the classroom, in the lab and at clinical sites, they are expected to spend three hours on course work.</p>
<p>The nursing-as-a-second-career trend has been in place for several years, said Deb Smith, vice president and chief nursing officer of OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington.</p>
<p>Some people who pursue nursing as a second career take advantage of accelerated, one-year nursing programs for people who already have a bachelor's degree, Smith said. For example, Illinois State University's Mennonite College of Nursing in Normal has an accelerated bachelor of science in nursing program.</p>
<p>Laurie Round, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing executive at Advocate BroMenn Medical Center in Normal, said the recession has driven some people from their original careers into nursing. Both ISU-Mennonite and Illinois Wesleyan University's School of Nursing in Bloomington reported an increase in enrollment last fall.</p>
<p>There is a demand for nurses because nurses work in hospitals, doctors' offices, businesses, insurance companies, long-term care facilities and churches. But second-career nurses also are drawn to the field for altruistic reasons, Smith and Round said.</p>
<p>&ldquo;They want to do something that's meaningful,&rdquo; Round said. &ldquo;They want to touch peoples' lives.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Middle-age adults going into nursing need to learn a career quickly and need to keep their energy level up.</p>
<p>Some middle-age adults are challenged by all the technology involved with patient care, Round and Smith said.</p>
<p>But the maturity and experience of second-career nurses generally makes up for any challenges.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I love the energy, the intensity, the maturity and the decision-making skills that they bring to the field,&rdquo; Round said. &ldquo;These people are choosing nursing while raising a family and working at the same time and that shows perseverance, commitment and discipline.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Second-career nurses not only come in with the experience of previous employment and raising a family. They also have social skills and because they are close in age to nurses already in the field &mdash; the average age of nurses is 47 &mdash; they fit in with other nurses quickly, Smith said.</p>
<p>McLaughlin-Olson said, &ldquo;They can use their life experiences to help them become better nurses. Because they've lived through life's challenges, they've learned how to critically think when issues come up, and they have empathy and can relate to people having problems.&rdquo;</p>
<p>But Smith and Round also are impressed with traditional nursing students, who graduate to enter nursing in their early 20s. They are intelligent, energetic and learn quickly, they said.</p>
<p>For that reason, both Round and Smith said middle-age, second-career nurses are not necessarily the new face of nursing.</p>
<p>&ldquo;I see a great mix across generations,&rdquo; Round said.</p>
<p>Adds Smith: &ldquo;It's good to have people entering nursing with a variety of life experiences. That further enriches our profession.&rdquo;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125937/Nursing-Popular-with-Older-Students&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariFri, 11 May 2012 14:31:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:125937http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125407/Nurse-Shortage-Trends#Comments1Nurse Shortage Trendshttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125407/Nurse-Shortage-Trends<p>Adapated from a WBUR radio series. Links to Audio can be found below.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>America's nursing shortage has been compared to a perfect storm gathering in intensity. In just over a decade nearly 80 million baby boomers will be in or reaching retirement, their medical needs placing an immense strain on our health care system. Nurses themselves will be leaving the profession and a younger generation of nurses will not be trained in enough numbers to fill the growing needs of hospitals and patients.</p>
<p>In&nbsp;<em>"Nursing a Shortage: Inside Out," </em>WBUR Special correspondent&nbsp;<b>Rachel Gotbaum&nbsp;</b>reports on how the shortage has come about and why it matters for nurses, hospitals and patients alike. She takes us into hospitals where the longest running nursing shortage in history is already impacting care. She reports on the roots of the problem that encompass not just the changing career choices for young women, the out-dated image of nursing but also the serious difficulties faced by nursing schools trying to find nurse-educators.</p>
<p>Nurses explain the effect of the shortage on their care of patients and how it is influencing their commitment to the profession and whether they stay or leave. Hospital administrators describe what they need to do to recruit and retain nurses in this competitive market , and Gotbaum reports on the growing tensions over whether mandating nurse-patient ratios is an answer to the problem or an impediment.</p>
<p>There have been shortages of nurses in this country since the 1960's but they have always resolved themselves fairly quickly. This nursing shortage began in 1998. Although it has been slightly alleviated it is expected to get worse when considering the increased retirement rates expected in coming years.</p>
<p>80 million baby boomers are slated to retire in the next decade and they will need a lot more medical care. At the same time many experienced nurses will be leaving the profession. The shortage began after managed care ushered in an era of cost cutting in the early 1990s. Nurses were replaced by lesser skilled workers. In Massachusetts 27 percent of hospital nurses were laid off, the largest number in the country. The profession became unattractive to women who began to have many other career choices. But as nurses left the workforce, studies showed that patient care suffered. One study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that patients whose nurse cares for 8 or more people have a 30 percent greater chance of dying than if their nurse cares for four patients. The same nurses are also more likely to be burnt out and dissatisfied with their jobs.</p>
<p>As hospitals started experiencing acute shortages of nurses, they responded by raising salaries and offering bonuses to nurses to enter the profession. Media campaigns were launched to extol the attractions of nursing. By 2003 185 thousand registered nurses entered this nation's hospital workforce. But even with this huge influx of nurses the shortage in 2007 still existed, and as demand for nurses increases many agree the gap will steadily grow. The number of registered nurses increased from approximately 2.5 million in 2007 to under 2.7 million in 2011. Despite this increase, some states are fighting about whether to <a href="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/123511/Legislation-Setting-Nurse-to-Patient-Ratios">mandate nurse-to-patient ratios</a>. The number of new nurses is influenced by a large number of external factors so pinpointing the cause is difficult, but the significance of the increase is more important. Although 200,000 sounds like a lot of nurses, this is only an 8% increase. Just as important as the number of nurses is the number of patients which rose almost 10% from 2007 to 2008 alone according to the National Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.</p>
<p><a href="http://insideout.wbur.org/documentaries/nursingshortage/index.asp" title="Audio Links Click Here" target="_blank">Audio Links Click Here</a></p>
<div>
<p>______________________________________________________________________________&nbsp;</p>
<p>How do you think these numbers compare to what you observe in hospitals and health care facilities? Do you think legislation is the best way to solve nurse-to-patient ratios? This creates a demand for nurses but not necessarily the supply.</p>
</div>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/125407/Nurse-Shortage-Trends&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariFri, 04 May 2012 17:47:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:125407http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/124093/Amazon-Book-Review-Confident-Voices-The-Nurses-Guide-to-Improving-Communication-Creating-Positive-Workplaces#Comments0Amazon Book Review: Confident Voices: The Nurses' Guide to Improving Communication & Creating Positive Workplaces http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/124093/Amazon-Book-Review-Confident-Voices-The-Nurses-Guide-to-Improving-Communication-Creating-Positive-Workplaces<p>Title:&nbsp;<b><em><span>Confident Voices: The Nurses' Guide to Improving Communication &amp; Creating Positive Workplaces</span></em></b></p>
<p>Author: Beth Boynton, RN MS</p>
<p>Amazon Review:</p>
<p>&ldquo;Confident Voices is a "must read" for every nurse who has had conversations with peers, supervisors, physicians and health care providers that have ended badly or wanted a different outcome. Confident Voices is designed to negotiate health care in the 21st Century and for communicating in a way that leaves everyone feeling included and honored in the process of day-to-day discussions in getting the job done. Beth Boynton's book provides the nurse with conversation tools to navigate difficult situations and provides support and feedback to reframe the situation so all involved win. I appreciate all the work Beth Boynton did in writing this book and the necessity of clear, concise communications in this difficult period we are all facing in the health care today.&rdquo;</p>
<p>________________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>Have you read <em><strong>Confident Voices</strong></em>? What did you think of it? Has it helped you communicate at work?</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/124093/Amazon-Book-Review-Confident-Voices-The-Nurses-Guide-to-Improving-Communication-Creating-Positive-Workplaces&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariWed, 18 Apr 2012 14:29:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:124093http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/122127/Hospital-Employment-Rises-in-February#Comments0Hospital Employment Rises in Februaryhttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/122127/Hospital-Employment-Rises-in-February<p>Hospital employment climbed by 15,400 in February</p>
<p>Employment at the nation's hospitals increased 0.32% in February to a seasonally adjusted 4,806,600 people, the Bureau of Labor Statistics&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t17.htm" target="_blank">reported</a>&nbsp;today. That's 15,400 more people than in January and 109,600 more than a year ago. Without the seasonal adjustment, which removes the effect of fluctuations due to seasonal events, private hospitals employed 4,797,600 people in February - 13,300 more than in January and 111,500 more than a year ago. The nation's overall unemployment rate was unchanged in February at 8.3%.</p>
<p>______________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>What are your thoughts? Is your hospital hiring? Growing? Why do you think so?</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/122127/Hospital-Employment-Rises-in-February&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariWed, 28 Mar 2012 14:21:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:122127http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/118068/Nursing-Students-Go-High-Tech#Comments0Nursing Students Go High Techhttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/118068/Nursing-Students-Go-High-Tech<p>Student at the UCLA School of Nursing start their nursing career with a high tech boost. As part of their ceremony to receive their white coats, this year they were also give iPod Touch devices preloaded with Medication and Diagnosis guides as well as a Spanish language dictionary and translation assistance. UCLA is determined to offer new grad nurses that are ready for "High Touch" care but within a "High Tech" environment.</p>
<p>&nbsp;Nursing Reimagined. Nursing Redefined.</p>
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<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/118068/Nursing-Students-Go-High-Tech&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathWed, 15 Feb 2012 16:24:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:118068http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/117196/A-Nurse-Need-Never-Forget#Comments0A Nurse Need Never Forgethttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/117196/A-Nurse-Need-Never-Forget<p>By RICHARD P&Eacute;REZ-PE&Ntilde;A<br />New York Times (reprint)</p>
<p>THESE days, when a nursing student at the University of Iowa fields a question about a drug, &ldquo;the answer is often, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t know, but give me a few seconds,&rsquo; and she pulls out her phone,&rdquo; according to Joann Eland, an associate professor there.<br /><br />In just a few years, technology has revolutionized what it means to go to nursing school, in ways more basic &mdash; and less obvious to the patient &mdash; than learning how to use the latest medical equipment. Nursing schools use increasingly sophisticated mannequins to provide realistic but risk-free experience; in the online world Second Life, students&rsquo; avatars visit digital clinics to assess digital patients. But the most profound recent change is a move away from the profession&rsquo;s dependence on committing vast amounts of information to memory. It is not that nurses need to know less, educators say, but that the amount of essential data has exploded.<br /><br />&ldquo;There are too many drugs now, too many interactions, too many tests, to memorize everything you would need to memorize,&rdquo; says Ms. Eland, a specialist in uses of technology. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t rely nearly as much as we used to on the staff knowing the right dose or the right timing.&rdquo;<br /><br />Five years ago, most American hospital wards still did not have electronic patient records, or Internet connections. Now, many provide that access with computers not just at a central nurse&rsquo;s station but also at the patient&rsquo;s bedside. The latest transition is to smartphones and tablet computers, which have become mandatory at some nursing schools.<br /><br />&ldquo;We have a certain set of apps that we want nursing students to have on their handheld devices &mdash; a book of lab tests, a database of drugs, even nursing textbooks,&rdquo; says Helen R. Connors, executive director of the Kansas University Center for Health Informatics. Visiting alumni, she says, are shocked to see students not carrying physical textbooks to class.<br /><br />But technology carries risks as well. So much data is available that students can get overwhelmed, and educators say that a growing part of their work is teaching how to retrieve information quickly and separate what is credible, relevant and up-to-date from what is not. (Hint: look for the seal of approval of Health on the Net.)<br /><br />They also worry that students rely too much on digital tools at the expense of patient interaction and learning.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a danger that having that technology at the point of care at the bedside creates a misperception that students don&rsquo;t need to know their stuff,&rdquo; says Jennifer Elison, chairwoman of the nursing department at Carroll College in Helena, Mont.<br /><br />&ldquo;I get worried when I hear about nursing programs that want to replace the person-to-person clinical experience with increased hours with simulation,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;We hear sometimes that it feels to patients that the computers are more important than they are.&rdquo;<br /><br />Then there&rsquo;s the patient privacy issue in the era of blogging, Facebook and Twitter. How to properly use social media has become standard in the curriculum, thanks in part to what is known in nursing circles as &ldquo;the placenta incident.&rdquo; Four nursing students at a community college in Kansas posted Facebook photos of themselves with a human placenta. The students were expelled in 2010, and later reinstated, but the episode showed how murky the boundaries of privacy and professionalism can be. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing recently published guidelines on social media.<br /><br />&ldquo;That is the new hot issue now,&rdquo; Ms. Elison says. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s been hard, because this is a generation that immediately hits that send button.&rdquo; <br /><br /></p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/117196/A-Nurse-Need-Never-Forget&bvt=rss">Wilson NunnariTue, 07 Feb 2012 02:00:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:117196http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/111705/The-CAN-Chinese-American-Nurses-Sisters-II-continued-Sharing-Our-Adaptation-Experiences#Comments4The CAN (Chinese American Nurses) Sisters II (continued) – Sharing Our Adaptation Experienceshttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/111705/The-CAN-Chinese-American-Nurses-Sisters-II-continued-Sharing-Our-Adaptation-Experiences<p>To read the first part in this article series, <a href="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/108813/The-CAN-Chinese-American-Nurses-Sisters-II-Sharing-Our-Adaptation-Experiences" title="please click here" target="_self">please click here</a></p>
<p><b>The important things to bridge the differences in the professional nursing practice in the United States are:</b></p>
<p>1. <b>Develop critical thinking skills. Always ask how, what, when, where, who, and what-if questions. Seek to understand the need for what is not understood. It creates deeper and more meaningful learning when we ask questions and search for answers. It also expands knowledge and leads to future change with less frustration.</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Identify the difference, seek to understand and to assess the situation or question at hand.</li>
<li>Observe the evidence of practice.</li>
<li>Develop a self-improvement list for ourselves.</li>
<li>Analyze content, including the policies and procedures of our facilities.</li>
<li>Interpret, verify and explain findings to our way of understanding.</li>
<li>Evaluate for relevant criteria to make a good judgment.</li>
<li>Apply new ways of thinking and immerse into the new knowledge as our own, using it in new clinical settings.</li>
<li>Create an action plan. Make a strong personal commitment to act differently in the nursing practice. Commit to doing things in new ways and not slide back into the old way of doing things. Adjust our behaviors again as needed. Apply new action plans to adopt better nursing practices for ourselves.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>2. Be true to ourselves. Stay strong, positive, and use positive energy everyday. Do not fall into the trap of negativity. Keep eyes open, mind clear, and refuse to go into a negative pit. There is no room for negativity.</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Build our brand. One simple example to think about branding is to look at a change shift. When a nurse comes in tardy; we hear some people say, &ldquo;She is never late; she is always on time. Hope she is okay.&rdquo; But we also frequently hear others say &ldquo;She is always late. We don&rsquo;t have to wait for her, let&rsquo;s get started.&rdquo; Ask yourself: Who do we want to be? It takes a plan and determination to come to work on time on a consistent basis. Our brand is built by what we do day in and day out. We want to make a conscious decision to align ourselves with true greatness.</li>
<li>Practice positive self-talk to make self-affirmation a daily habit. Think about how many people are able to excel in another land. We use a different language all day at work, and we work in a people profession &ndash; around people, and taking care of people. We are a different breed. We are doing great! &nbsp;</li>
<li>Excel in our strengths. When we posses excellent skills, use them. Peripheral IV (PIV) insertion it is a great time-saving skill. Help out where you are most skilled. Hold onto what is good, but assess if there&rsquo;s a new, better way. Let&rsquo;s raise the bar for ourselves.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p><b>3. Limit negativity. </b></p>
<ul>
<li>Take pride in our bilingual skills. Being bilingual is a gift. It is not a negative attribute. Speaking bilingual gives us the opportunity to explore understanding of words or phrases that are foreign to us. Volunteer to be an interpreter for patients who speak our native language whenever you can. Never use our cultural background as an excuse for not being an effective communicator. We need to continue to improve speaking English. We can learn to communicate more effectively every day. We can write down our successful sentences and deposit them in a basket. Pick them up to read them again once a while.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Create ways to help deal with negative people around us. When we distance ourselves from the negativity or person, people may misinterpret our behavior into a negative behavior. Our actions may be interpreted as anti-social. Mingle, but avoid joining in negative talk. It unrealistic for us to expect to never encounter rejection or discrimination in the workplace. That is purely na&iuml;ve. Rejections and discriminations are likely to happen to us. They happen for many reasons beside cultural differences. We do not appreciate experiencing rejection and discriminations at work. How one deals with the experience is a big lesson to learn. Let&rsquo;s ask ourselves: What are we going to do if we encounter these things? What can we learn from this encounter?&nbsp; Do we want to tolerate it? How much can we tolerate it? What is our personal limitation? What can we do to change? &nbsp;How much time do we want to spend on unhappy events? Is this experience going to affect us one year from now? Five years from now? Ten years from now? At different times, we do different things. Therefore, a flexible plan will be very helpful. It is easier to deal with situations if we already have a thoughtful plan. At the very least, we have a lawful process to resolve discrimination. Always seek to understand. Explore how things can be improved.&nbsp;</li>
<li>We also need to find our own ways to deal with whatever we encounter. I will share my own terrible experience. The incident happened just before I was going to a beautiful wedding. I was determined not let the terrible experience ruin a good time at the wedding so I compartmentalized my horrible experience. I went to my secret &ldquo;P&rdquo; pocket (I have many words which start with &ldquo;P&rdquo; in my mind that I can use to boost my &nbsp;positive energy when I needed).&nbsp; I pulled two &ldquo;P&rdquo; (<b>Personally and Permanent) </b>words out. I kept telling myself over and over &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t take it <b>personally.</b>&rdquo; &ldquo;The problem is hers.&rdquo; &ldquo;I did what I need to do for my job.&rdquo; I also told myself again and again that &ldquo;Nothing <b>is permanent. </b>This shall pass.&rdquo; I repeated these sentences to myself until I was at peace. That night, I was able to enjoy the wedding. I could think about how to deal with my bad experience after the wedding.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
<p><b>4. Plan to bridge the differences in our nursing practices in many steps.</b></p>
<ul>
<li>Initial self-assessment and learning to fill the missing pieces of the puzzle for ourselves.</li>
<li>Find a group to study, to socialize, to make friends, and to learn from each other and the cultures of each one involved.</li>
<li>Search for a few career mentors for guidance. It will save us a lot of time while we are lost in a maze of professional nursing. In the United States, nursing opportunities are endless; we have a great many options for our advancement. It is not like when we thought nursing jobs were limited to a hospital or clinic.</li>
<li>Ask for help. Ask for input to clarify any confusion. We want to do it right the first time and we want to do the right thing. We have to triple-check all we do, because patient outcomes are in our hands.</li>
<li>Past personal beliefs like &ldquo;Be quiet&rdquo; and &ldquo;Silence is a golden&rdquo; &ndash; these don&rsquo;t have much validity or value here. Not speaking up and not asking questions &ndash; these are not appropriate in this country. Do raise questions as appropriate.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>Attachment I: Examples of possible solutions and preparation to bridge the differences in changing and adapting our professional nursing practice in the United States. </b></p>
<table style="width: 509px;" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p><b>Differences</b></p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<p><b>Our Possible Solutions</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p>Assess and re-assess our patients</p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<ul>
<li>Review and review, and review again physical assessment books.&nbsp; Memorize them as much as possible and as needed.</li>
<li>Bring a handbook that we like such as &ldquo;SkillMasters 3-Minute Assessment by Spring House 2006&rdquo; to work for references.</li>
<li>Bring bilingual dictionary to work for references.</li>
<li>Practice American way as soon as we learn. Use it frequently.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p>Report abnormal finding</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<ul>
<li>Use SBAR for all verbal and written communications. Write down talking points for our verbal communication also.</li>
<li>Use read-back method for all verbal orders.</li>
<li>Ask the caller to spell it out or slow it down as needed.</li>
<li>It is perfectly fine to state the obvious; let the speaker know that English is our second language.</li>
<li>Ask speaker to listen to us attentively. It takes time to get use to our accent. Remember, listening skills are very important in any conversation.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p>Learn emergency responses &ndash; RRT, Code Blue with education in ACLS and PALS</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<ul>
<li>Be aware and tell our nurse managers that we did not have experience in these areas.</li>
<li>Take initiative to attend emergency-related classes in our hospitals as soon as we can and take as many classes as needed.</li>
<li>Increase our comfort level through self-study, group discussions and simulation labs. Find a preceptor or mentor to practice with us.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p>Giving P.O. medications and medication reconciliation</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<ul>
<li>Take time to observe patients taking their medications every time before we move on to the next task.</li>
<li>Don&rsquo;t put meds on the bedside table or on an over-bed table.</li>
<li>Learn to perform medication reconciliation as needed.</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="131">
<p>Protect patients&rsquo; privacy and protect colleagues&rsquo; privacies</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</td>
<td valign="top" width="378">
<ul>
<li>Remember patient information is the patient&rsquo;s private property. We need written permission from the patient, law and regulations, such as our facilities&rsquo; policies before we can share it.</li>
<li>Plan ahead and create a simple sentence such as &ldquo;I am sorry that I do not have a permission to give that information.&rdquo;</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><b>Attachment II - SBAR</b></p>
<p>The SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation) technique provides a framework for communication between members of the health care team about a patient's condition. SBAR is an easy-to-remember, concrete mechanism useful for framing any conversation, especially critical ones, requiring a clinician&rsquo;s immediate attention and action. It allows for an easy and focused way to set expectations for what will be communicated and how between members of the team, which is essential for developing teamwork and fostering a <a href="http://www.ihi.org/knowledge/Pages/Changes/DevelopaCultureofSafety.aspx" title="Develop a Culture of Safety">culture of patient safety</a>.</p>
<b>Background</b><br />
<p>Michael Leonard, MD, Physician Leader for Patient Safety, along with colleagues&nbsp;Doug Bonacum and Suzanne Graham&nbsp;at Kaiser Permanente&nbsp;of Colorado&nbsp;(Evergreen, Colorado, USA) developed this technique. The SBAR technique has been implemented widely at health systems such as Kaiser Permanente.</p>
<b>Directions</b>
<p>This tool has two documents:</p>
<ul>
<li>SBAR Guidelines (&ldquo;Guidelines for Communicating with Physicians Using the SBAR Process&rdquo;): Explains in detail how to implement the SBAR technique</li>
<li>SBAR Worksheet (&ldquo;SBAR report to physician about a critical situation&rdquo;):&nbsp;A worksheet/script that a provider can use to organize information in preparation for communicating with a physician about a critically ill patient</li>
</ul>
<p>Both the worksheet and the guidelines use the physician team member as the example; however, they can be adapted for use with all other health professionals.</p>
<p>By <b>SBAR Technique for Communication: A Situational Briefing Model </b></p>
<p>Page Content</p>
<p>Kaiser Permanente of Colorado<br /> Evergreen, Colorado, USA</p>
<p><b>Attachment III &ndash; Read-Back</b></p>
<p>Read-back is a way to verify of the complete order by the person who receiving the verbal order.&nbsp; The receiving person will repeat the verbal order back to the ordering clinician, who will verbally confirm that the repeated order is correct. The purpose of &ldquo;Read-back&rdquo; is to ensure patient safety.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Contributors:</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Mai Tseng -- RN, BSN,MPA,EMBA, NE-BC,CRNI, LNC<br />Karen Cox -- RN, PHD, FAAN,<br />Laurie Ellison -- EMBA<br />Xu Hong Fang -- RN<br />Hong Guo -- RN<br />Sufan Sun -- RN</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/111705/The-CAN-Chinese-American-Nurses-Sisters-II-continued-Sharing-Our-Adaptation-Experiences&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathTue, 20 Dec 2011 13:27:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:111705http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/100359/With-diversity-everyone-is-relevant#Comments0With diversity, everyone is relevanthttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/100359/With-diversity-everyone-is-relevantBy MICHELLE T. JOHNSON<a href="http://michelletjohnson.com/" rel="me nofollow" target="_blank"><br />http://michelletjohnson.com</a><br />Special writer to <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/05/3122994/assumptions-hurt-hispanic-workforce.html" title="The Kansas City Star" target="_blank">The Kansas City Star</a><br /><br />Through the end of the year I will be looking a little more deeply into the definition of common terms that come up when discussing workplace diversity. Let&rsquo;s start with &ldquo;diversity&rdquo; itself.<br /><br />Although I&rsquo;ve written about it in this column for several years and directly and indirectly defined it, people still seem confused. Or rather, my definition goes against the common, comfortable, self-centered way that people are used to thinking about diversity.<br /><br />Most people think of diversity as a synonym for &ldquo;race relations.&rdquo; If they are particularly cynical or hate the very idea of it, then they think of diversity as another way of saying &ldquo;affirmative action,&rdquo; which really makes a negative in their minds.<br /><br />My definition of diversity that I train with is layered and involved, and provides a great starting point for discussions in my workshops and longer writings.<br /><br />But in a nutshell, it&rsquo;s about difference &mdash; the difference between two people that can or does affect how they approach their jobs. Everything from the small difference of a person who has an assigned parking space to the person who has to circle the lot to find a decent space.<br /><br />Diversity is also about the differences that are large and societal, such as race or sex. Recently I visited the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, N.C., and trust me, there is nothing small in seeing film footage and photos of the horrific things that Americans have done to Americans in the name of racial superiority.<br /><br />Though the remnants of that legacy still leave their mark and have mutated into new dynamics of discrimination, it&rsquo;s not just the big differences that count.<br /><br />One of the difficulties of dealing with diversity is that it requires one to look at comparisons. That&rsquo;s why the common definition of diversity is often self-centered.<br /><br />People have a tendency to look at it through the lens that either supports who they are or potentially harms them.<br /><br />But when diversity serves to simply determine difference as a measure of bringing several viewpoints or frames of reference into a working situation, it can be seen as a positive and not a threat.<br /><br />Or to paraphrase something I recently read, if two people think exactly the same when trying to solve a problem or address a challenge, one of those people is completely irrelevant.<br /><br />Diversity is about making everyone relevant.<br /><br />Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/09/19/3153953/with-diversity-everyone-is-relevant.html<br /><br />
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/100359/With-diversity-everyone-is-relevant&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathTue, 11 Oct 2011 12:46:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:100359http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/96901/The-Hausman-Diversity-Program-at-Mass-General-Hospital#Comments1The Hausman Diversity Program at Mass General Hospitalhttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/96901/The-Hausman-Diversity-Program-at-Mass-General-Hospitalby Alicia Williams-Hyman <br />
<p style="text-align: left;">Staff Assistant <br /> Hausman Diversity Program at Mass General Hospital</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://blog.diversitynursing.com/Portals/100318/images/hausman_fellowship.jpg" border="0" alt="hausman fellowship" class="alignLeft" style="float: left;" />The Hausman Student Nurse Fellowship was created when MGH patient Margaretta Hausman, a social worker and graduate of Brown University, recognized the need for diversity among the top-level nursing staff. The Hausman Student Nurse Fellowship provides an opportunity for minority nursing students enrolled in an undergraduate baccalaureate nursing program to gain experience in patient care across the continuum.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The fellowship allows student nurses between the summer of their junior and senior year in college to experience care at the bedside in both inpatient and outpatient settings. &nbsp;Under the mentorship of Deborah Washington, R.N., Director of Diversity for Patient Care Services and Bernice McField-Avila MD, Co-Chair of the Fellowship, the recipients have an opportunity to further develop skills required to thrive in a workplace where unique challenge to the minority nurse must be managed.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The first fellowship was awarded to Stevenson Morency in 2007.&nbsp; The program flourished significantly and in 2011, the fellowship was awarded to 8 minority student nurses, the largest group in the history of the program. The Student Nurses worked on various units such as Endoscopy, Orthopedics, General Medicine, Thoracic Surgery, Cardiac Unit, Neurosurgery Unit, Wang Wound Care, Cancer Center and the Grey IV department.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">At the graduation ceremony on August 19, 2011, the Hausman Student Nurses provided feedback about their time in the program. Vicky Yu, a student of UMass and a 2011 recipient, felt honored to be part of the fellowship. She stated she saw many procedures she had only read about in her textbooks: colonoscopy, hip/knee replacements and urinary catheterization. &ldquo;I got to work with a nurse 1-on-1. I don't get this attention on my school clinical and I loved it!&rdquo; stated Vicky.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Jennifer Etienne of Boston College stated: &ldquo;As a minority nurse, it will be my mission to eliminate health care disparities and use my skills and knowledge to eliminate language barriers and become more culturally competent.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Marthe Pierre shared: &ldquo;The Hausman Fellowship is a ladder that provided a stepping-stone to my success. It allowed me to acquire skills, knowledge and confidence. It has also ignited my desire to one day become an extraordinary nurse who is culturally competent and compassionate.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Jeffrey Jean of UMass Boston expressed that the program has reaffirmed his knowledge and his clinical experience. &ldquo;Being able to walk in the shoes of a different RN has allowed me to re-invent myself. I have learned an abundance of new skills and techniques and have acquired a vast amount of knowledge. I believe that an important component of being an effective caregiver is to know what my strengths are.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Sedina Giaff of Simmons College declared &ldquo;It is with great pride that I introduce myself as a Hausman Fellow. This has been the best summer of my life. My experience as a Hausman Fellow has made me a better nursing student both clinically and intellectually. I have a better understanding and greater interest in the nursing profession. I am confidently looking forward to the coming school year and sharing my experiences with my classmates.&rdquo;</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lauren Kang-Kim of Linfield College in Oregon had this to say: &ldquo;Now I am reborn as a Hausman Fellow. For the last 5 weeks I found my own powerful voice and I am now proud of my minority identity. The Fellowship has opened the doors for me to become not just a better nurse, but a better person with a deeper understanding and respect for human beings.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Rosalee Tayag and Anna Diane of UMass Boston and Boston College respectively, stated that the Fellowship enhanced their leadership, critical thinking, assessment and communication skills; and &nbsp;taught them to be more culturally sensitive. They also emphasized that they learned to work as members of a team more effectively.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Former 2010 Hausman awardees, Jason Villarreal and Penina Marengue, congratulated the Student Nurses on their graduation and cautioned them to use their new-found knowledge to provide competent care to their patients and uphold the good name of the Hausman Fellows.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Former Hausman Fellows include: Frew Fikru, Alexis Seggalye, and Christopher Uyiguosa Isibor 2008.&nbsp; Chantel Watson and Stephanie Poon 2009.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The Hausman Fellowship is posted by Spring of each year at <a href="http://www.mghcareers.org/">www.mghcareers.org</a>. Qualified minority candidates should be in good academic standing (3.0 GPA or higher) and entering their senior year of a BSN program in the Fall.</p>
<br />
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/96901/The-Hausman-Diversity-Program-at-Mass-General-Hospital&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathFri, 23 Sep 2011 00:46:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:96901http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/84454/Breaking-the-Barriers-of-Nursing#Comments4Breaking the Barriers of Nursinghttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/84454/Breaking-the-Barriers-of-Nursing<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7KaxBO3uLM4?hl=en&amp;fs=1" width="425"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Thank you to Pilar De La Cruz-Reyes, MSN, RN from the California Institute for Nursing and Healthcare for the content of this video.</em></p>
<p>Breaking the Barriers is a great compilation of nursing stories put together by the California Institute for Nursing &amp; Health Care that show how everyday people can overcome adversity to follow the career of their dreams. The nurses in this video will inspire you and show to our young people how you really can achieve if you have the desire and passion for a career in nursing.</p>
<p>Once you watch this video, we would love to hear your feedback. Please comment here on our blog when you have a minute.</p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/84454/Breaking-the-Barriers-of-Nursing&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathFri, 22 Jul 2011 19:16:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:84454http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/55554/My-Experience-with-Mentoring-and-Role-Models-in-Nursing#Comments0My Experience with Mentoring and Role Models in Nursinghttp://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/55554/My-Experience-with-Mentoring-and-Role-Models-in-Nursing<p><strong>Angela Adjetey, RN, MPH, MA, FAACM</strong><br /> <strong>Graduate Student at Vanderbilt University,<br /> School of Nursing, MSN, Health Systems Management</strong><br /> <strong>Clinical Nurse Specialist Women&rsquo;s Oncology Unit,<br /> Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center</strong></p>
<p><strong>Special Author for DiversityNursing.com</strong></p>
<p><span>I recently attended a conference where the topic of mentoring aspiring nurse leaders was discussed.&nbsp; The message of the presentation was that it is personally and professionally important to have both mentors and role models for all aspects of life. I realized I had successfully incorporated excellent mentors and role models into my professional development as well as my growth as a person. Choosing a mentor has always been part of my professional career plan.&nbsp;&nbsp; Marilyn K. Bedell (2005), states that nurses need guidance and help to grow and to develop new cognitive, clinical, and technical skills. She noted that many nurses in leadership positions are concerned about the development of novice nurses and those in the process of making career transitions. She emphasized it is critical for nurses in leadership positions to learn about mentoring and its use as a tool to develop the next generation of nurse leaders.</span></p>
<p>Mentoring is a science and an art. Through mentoring nurses are guided, taught, and influenced in their chosen profession. It is a relationship between a novice and an experienced professional. The experienced professional teaches professional survival skills and methods through guidance, counseling, and critiquing the novice, while encouraging specialization and advancement in the profession.&nbsp;&nbsp; The role of a mentor is to develop the unique abilities of the prot&eacute;g&eacute;. The mentor helps the prot&eacute;g&eacute; feel safe and comfortable while asking questions, seeking advice, or talking through a situation.&nbsp; Role modeling as opposed to mentorship is often a one-way relationship. There is no commitment from the role model to guide and counsel. It tends to be a passive process in which a person watches and then copies the model. Role modeling relies on imitation and does not encourage the development of the unique qualities of the individual. No formal discussions occur to verify why the role model performed a certain way in a specific situation (Bedell, 2005).</p>
<p>My first experience with role modeling and mentoring occurred when I was a young girl. My parents helped 2 missionaries run a clinic in Ghana, West Africa. When I grew up, I wanted to be like my mother and the 2 ladies who provided care at this clinic. My first encounter with mentoring was in 1996. I attended a meeting of the Black Nurses Association of Charlottesville, Virginia, a chapter of the National Black Nurses Association.&nbsp; I was invited by David Simmons, RN, MSN, who nurtured me as a student nurse and showed me the impact a nurse leader can have on a person.&nbsp; I wanted to be like him and was motivated to develop the skills he demonstrated.&nbsp; He showed me all the characteristics I consider helpful throughout my career.&nbsp; His desire to help me was evident. He demonstrated effective coaching, provided me with advice, and demonstrated how networking can improve my nursing and leadership skills.</p>
<p>In 2004, I was selected as a participant to attend the Oncology Nursing Society/ National Cancer Institute sponsored Cancer Prevention and Early Detection Institute for nurse educators, academic staff and clinicians from institutions which historically serve black and minority patients.&nbsp; I met Dr. Sandra Millon-Underwood, RN, PhD, FAAN professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) at this event. She motivated me to be a mentor for other nurses as well as an advance practice nurse.&nbsp; I modeled my career path based on the experience I had with her during my time at the institute. She is the reason why I became an advance practice nurse. Dr. Million-Underwood&rsquo;s work with nursing research, cancer prevention and control, cultural diversity in health care, her perspective of health care systems, and serving as the founding Director of the UWM House of Peace Community Nursing Center attracted me to cancer care, public health, and health systems management.</p>
<p>Other nursing leaders I consider role models include the Director of Acute Care services, Mary Dowling, and Nancy Kline, Director of Nursing Research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.&nbsp; Both Mary and Nancy have been instrumental to my advancement in nursing.</p>
<p>Sabeeha Rehman (FACHE) is my mentor and I am her prot&eacute;g&eacute;. She is the President and founding member of the New York Metro Chapter of the National Autism Association, and served as a hospital executive in New York, New Jersey, and Saudi Arabia. I met Sabeeha through the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) mentor/prot&eacute;g&eacute; program as a member of the ACHE and Healthcare Leaders of New York.&nbsp; She created a safe mentoring environment where I feel free to be honest. She meets with me as often as she can and is always available to me. She also shares her experiences with me.&nbsp; We remain interested in each others work and advancement, and celebrate one another&rsquo;s successes both professionally and personally. She also shares my interest in patient safety, staff development, and quality assurance and improvement which has supported my current professional endeavors.</p>
<p>Alice Gianella, RN, MA, the Director of Nursing Continuing Education at MSKCC, is another nurse I consider my mentor.&nbsp; Alice spends time with me and provides me with insights into my nursing career whenever needed. Mary M., Gullatte, PhD, RN, APRN, BC, AOCN, FAAMA Associate Chief Nursing Officer at Emory University Hospital Midtown is another mentor of mine.&nbsp; Mary actually came to see me during my first podium presentation. She provided me with the moral support I needed during this experience.&nbsp;&nbsp; She listens to me in a nonjudgmental manner allowing me to achieve insights into my developmental goals. My involvement with organizations such as AONE and the Oncology Nursing Society has provided role models to emulate in my continued development.&nbsp; I attended the AONE Aspiring Nurse Leader Institute and learned a great deal about nursing leadership. Being part of the Fellows of the ONS Leadership Development Institute (LDI) also served as a road map to my mentoring and role modeling experience, and a guide to leadership.</p>
<p>Most importantly, I have been my own advocate in seeking guidance from all my mentors and role models.&nbsp; I realize, in addition to the nursing theories which guide our practice, role models and mentors have a great impact on how we view our professional development and continued advancement.</p>
<p>I realize mentors, organizational involvement, and role models have greatly impacted my career as a nurse. Without the influence of all individuals mentioned in this article, I would not have achieved most of what I have done in my career.</p>
<p><strong>References</strong></p>
<p><strong>Bedell, K. M. (2005). Mentoring: Promoting the development of nurses. In M. M. Gullatte (Ed.), Nursing management: Principles and practice (pp. 349-352). Pittsburg, PA: Oncology Nursing Society. </strong></p>
<img src="http://track.hubspot.com/__ptq.gif?a=100318&k=14&bu=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/&r=http://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/bid/55554/My-Experience-with-Mentoring-and-Role-Models-in-Nursing&bvt=rss">Pat MagrathMon, 06 Dec 2010 15:13:00 GMTf1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:55554